DM Advice: Looking for difficulties my party makeup will create

[Pope Scarface]

Starting a new 5E game, and at level 2 I have a Tiefling Rogue going Assassin, a Half-Elf Archfey Warlock going Tome, a Warforged Monk (undecided)/War Cleric, and a Gnome Barbarian.

What kind of difficulties is this group likely to have that I ought to adjust for in planning the campaign, in your opinion?

The game is likely going to end around level 6 or 7.

The Warlock is the only person who has played 5E before, and the rogue is new to D&D.

[Zman]

I don't foresee any major difficulties for your party, it's fully capable of functioning within the games assumptions and default calculations through sixth or seventh levels.

[Waffle_Iron]

Starting a new 5E game, and at level 2 I have a Tiefling Rogue going Assassin, a Half-Elf Archfey Warlock going Tome, a Warforged Monk (undecided)/War Cleric, and a Gnome Barbarian.

What kind of difficulties is this group likely to have that I ought to adjust for in planning the campaign, in your opinion?

The game is likely going to end around level 6 or 7.

The Warlock is the only person who has played 5E before, and the rogue is new to D&D.

Depending on the nation they find themselves in, racial prejudice could be an issue.

You've got a demon, a half breed, a robot, and a shortstack. Imagine who might hate/fear someone of that type and you've got the beginnings of an interesting encounter.

[Gtdead]

In combat, their only weakness is aoe. Only the Warlock has access to it through Arms of Hadar and Sword Burst, but it would be hard to use since he will probably stay away from melee. If you want to challenge the math, add encounters with pack tactics. If you want to challenge their smarts, add warcries and other types of "bolstering", so they will have to make tactical decisions instead of just throwing the barbarian in melee and hoping for the best.

Out of combat they aren't very good at INT checks. Remember, perception helps you spot something, investigation/knowledge helps you make sense of something. Anyone that builds his character with advice from the internet will most likely not be too eager to boost his int checks and they don't have spells to assist them like enhance ability/identify, or other class abilities (like knowledge cleric's shenanigans). They are going to have huge trouble solving mysteries. You can add branches, and everytime they fail their intelligence checks, they will most likely have to do something that involves combat, or spending resources.

[Safety Sword]

As long as you stick to the recommended encounters per day and you're not overdoing interrupting their rests, it will be fine.

As previously mentioned, the party lacks area damage, but that's most true of all low level parties.

Just be careful of having too many numbers against the PCs.

[MrFahrenheit]

A couple intellect devourers could equal a tpk. And at any level, too, if the bad guys get the drop.

Not that that's a bad thing >:)

[Joe the Rat]

Depending on how you do stats, the Gnome has an uphill battle (less Strength to start), but should be okay in the long run. Actually, with the advantage on mental stat saves, that shores up a major weakness. Hmmm. He will be limited to Versatile weapons (unless goes with "reckless attack with a Great Axe," which is an amusing visual). Sword and Board will work well for him if he goes that route.

The rogue is a fair choice for beginners - not a lot of resources to track. The one thing they will need to master is Bonus Actions. They'll always have the option of one to use. You have a little time to get them used to the game before Tiefling weirdness comes online.

Your Monkleric will be the diciest once you get to ki points AND spells AND channel divinity, depending on what their previous D&D experience is. But they will have a level to adapt (3rd) before they have an opportunity to add 2nd in the other. Keep in mind that by base rules, all those wonderful martial weapons (besides shortswords) can't be used with martial arts. But that's a houserule away if you want to merge them.

Unless someone is taking a lot of Knowledge, there's a lot of stuff the characters won't know. As this somewhat matches player knowledge, that might not be a bad thing. But don't make obscure facts and details the crux of the story. Be careful of illusions.

They are an odd mix, and depending on your setting, should evoke some odd responses. Typical settings, the Half-Elf looks most trustworthy, the tiefling most suspicious, the gnome will be expected to be knowledgeable, and the warforged nonsentient. This can give you some roleplay hooks.

[Temperjoke]

You might have healing issues, looking at the class mixup. I doubt the Monk/War cleric wants to spend all his time healing the others, so I'd give them lots of opportunities for purchasing and using potions. They might have utility issues that would normally be resolved by a wizard, but since the Warlock is a Tome Warlock some of that can be mitigated by giving him the chance to add ritual spells to his tome, by purchasing books or scrolls, etc.. Depending on the setting and how strict you want to play it, they should have social interaction issues given their motley racial mix, but that depends on the setting, yours might be a more diverse population than other settings might have.

[Pope Scarface]

Also concerned about stats. They wanted to roll stats, so I had them roll 3d6 5 times, with one automatic 15. This is what they wound up with after racial bumps:

(str/dex/con/int/wis/cha order)

8, 14, 10, 15, 11, 17 (warlock)
15, 13, 12, 11, 9, 9 (barbarian; has a luck reroll per long rest because he has the lowest stats)
11, 17, 15, 10, 10, 9 (rogue)
9, 16, 15, 11, 15, 15 (warforged)

[R.Shackleford]

Starting a new 5E game, and at level 2 I have a Tiefling Rogue going Assassin, a Half-Elf Archfey Warlock going Tome, a Warforged Monk (undecided)/War Cleric, and a Gnome Barbarian.

What kind of difficulties is this group likely to have that I ought to adjust for in planning the campaign, in your opinion?

The game is likely going to end around level 6 or 7.

The Warlock is the only person who has played 5E before, and the rogue is new to D&D.

Please tell me that this Gnome Barbarian is going to worship Gond and create gunpowder...

I love me some Gnome Barbarian/Knowledge Cleric!

[Slipperychicken]

You might have healing issues, looking at the class mixup. I doubt the Monk/War cleric wants to spend all his time healing the others

I agree. Even if undecided-guy took war cleric, those spell slots will only get him so far. Even as a life-cleric healbot, it takes a lot of magic to fill someone up.

Unless someone gets the Healer feat, their main source of healing is going to be using their hit dice on short rests. In my experience, that's good to fill them up once in an adventuring day, but the party will get really low if they push past that. Their barbarian might be able to last longer, but it's iffy. If they practice excessive caution and are very smart about their adventuring, they might be fine, but they're new players so I think that's unlikely.

[Joe the Rat]

If someone has herbalist kit proficiency, they can make healing potions, trading time for money.
Since they are listed in the magic items, I think you'd be justified in using the magic item crafting rules, as opposed to the standard crafting rules. That's a potion every 2 days as opposed to every 10. Allow them to clip herbs as they travel, and you can cut down on the cash expense as well.

You can also craft healing kits, but that's far more useful with the Healer feat, as Slipperychicken notes.

[Specter]

Putting it in the three game pillars:

COMBAT: They should all be fine. Looks like the half-elf will be sitting alone in the back lines while everybody jumps in melee, so he should be prepared for that.
EXPLORATION: The rogue should be handling locks and traps decently. The gnome should be the survivalist and lead everybody in difficult terrains. The warlock can use many ritual spells to make things easier.
SOCIAL: Looks like the half-elf is alone in this. If the player is not interested in interacting or doesn't have the necessary skills/spells for it, they could be in trouble.

[YCombinator]

What kind of difficulties is this group likely to have that I ought to adjust for in planning the campaign, in your opinion?


It's pretty much impossible to know without knowing what the adventure you're proposing to adjust is. A lot of people post asking for help with what an optimal character might be to add to a party but it's really hard to say. If you assume this is a very basic hack and slash dungeon crawl with the 10 most common monster's manual baddies then you might make some party comp assumptions. I bet a lot of those answering will make assumptions bases on their own experiences that don't match the campaign you're crafting.

5 Bards all with charm person, friends cantrip, and trained in various different skills might not sound in the least optimal to anyone on this message boar but I'll tell you, it's probably the optimal party build for the campaign I'm currently running. I know my campaign is far from typical but it just goes to show it the campaign matters. You might want to add some details about it.

[Pope Scarface]

Still deciding on the campaign details. I was looking for advice along the lines of "this group doesn't have much healing, you should make sure potions are available," or "this group would have a hard time dealing with X type of encounter."